This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
I thank The Longmont Observer for hosting their Ward 2 City Council Candidates’ Debate and choosing such a serious, in-depth format. It provided a real service to the residents of Ward 2 by making clear the choice that some influencers wish to obscure. And it provided a service to me, affording new insight as to why the current Council majority (typically comprising Jeff Moore, Brian Bagley, Dennis Coombs, Bonnie Finley and Gabe Santos) behaves the way it does.
Understand: I don’t assume that Moore speaks for his voting bloc. Others may have different attitudes and motivations. But the result is the same in each case: These Members ascribe tremendous power to the other party when they negotiate for Longmont. In their minds, Longmont is subordinate, passive, supplicant. The other party, whether a real estate developer, the oil and gas industry, or RTD, is seen as more powerful. The City feels that such parties must be enticed to come to Longmont.
This passive view has meant errors in judgement by Council in recent years. It’s an abdication of the power that should be used to enhance and nurture our city, not to give away the advantages we enjoy for the benefit of big business.
Several such errors were made on the redevelopment project Village at Twin Peaks. My opponent stated Thursday that City Council does not have the ability to tell real estate developers what to do. This is simply false. The Amended and Restated Twin Peaks Mall Area Urban Renewal Plan of 2012 enumerates the powers of the City under the Colorado Urban Renewal Law. Among them, we find:
The Authority may impose such covenants, conditions and restrictions, including architectural and design controls, time restrictions on development, and building requirements, as it deems necessary to develop such property in accordance with the Act and the Plan.
The developer, Newmark Merrill, entered into a contract with the city. The terms of the contract are not public, but some things we know: the city required a big-box wholesaler, an organic grocery, and a multiplex theater. In consideration for this Longmont would provide $27.5 Million in public improvements. The city mortgaged titles to Civic Center, the Safety and Justice Center, the library and the Development Services Building to secure the financing. Our public buildings! And our taxes!
For such consideration, Newmark Merrill’s contract should have included firm opening dates for the anchor stores, should have specified pedestrian-flow, traffic-flow, and retail requirements, and covenants for shade and gathering places. Instead, there were not even performance requirements. When two of the anchor stores in the new project opened late, the sales tax revenues that were to pay the city’s debt fell short, and Longmont had to make up the shortfall from its emergency fund.
An active Council would have done better. Would have written requirements for the project that took modern shopping habits into account. Would have protected us from capricious vendors. Would have looked ahead.
Now another kind of developer sits on our borders. 8 North LLC, a subsidiary of better-known Extraction Oil & Gas LLC, has applied for an exploratory spacing permit on 2,000+ acres between Quail and Oxford Roads, near where SVVSD is building its new Innovation Center. And Top Operating Company is planning to drill underneath Union Reservoir. Because our passive Council majority gave up on opposing oil & gas development, we are only now considering methods for stopping or slowing this activity. Lafayette, meanwhile, has a quiver-full of regulatory arrows to shoot at a similar application on its borders.
Residents of Longmont, what kind of Council do you want to face down this threat? A passive, compliant one? One who worships big business? One who thinks there’s nothing to be done because Colorado backs Big Oil?
I’m not ready to give up so easily. Strong leaders are waiting to serve Longmont. We must elect some Active Voices like me to city council. Now is the time for visionary, proactive, progressive leadership.
Marcia Martin
1209 S. Emery Street
Longmont, CO 80501
720-470-9516
This is an opinion piece that was submitted to the Longmont Observer. It does not, necessarily, represent the views of the Longmont Observer. The Longmont Observer does not endorse political candidates.
Have an opinion piece you would like us to publish? Send it to [email protected]
